Hearts, Stars, and Milky Way Bars
by ally.enchantress
Summary: Post-Authority. "He seemed to be trying to gauge her reaction before he said anything. “You could have explained what the pre-recorded screaming was about,” he commented. She froze."
1. Chapter 1

**Post-Authority, since I was watching it a while ago. Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dick Wolf owns SVU, but the complete and utter absence of fluff in the series automatically requires a heap of fanfiction fluff to make up for it. Deal.**

Cold air whispered in from the open window of the crib, but it was nothing when compared to her frigid heart.

Olivia had mounted the stairs at least an hour ago, searching for a place where no one would find her. Quite frankly, she was surprised no one had come looking for her yet. It wasn't as though she had chosen the most private spot in the precinct. She suspected Cragen had something to do with it. Maybe he had noticed just how close she had been to falling apart at the seams when Elliot helped her into the precinct that evening.

True, she had neither eaten nor drank anything in almost twenty-four hours, but the humiliation that accompanied the necessity of having her partner half-carry her to her desk, and then again to the interview room, was sourced deeper than that.

How could she have been so stupid?

A child probably could have realized that Merritt Rook did not have the emotional detachment needed to actually kill someone directly, much less the crowd of his loyal followers in Grand Central Station. Yet she'd followed him like – to use his favorite term – a sheep, blindly convinced that he would not lie to her to serve some greater scheme.

She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her, stifling a yawn. She wished she had, for some reason, been possessed with the desire to carry a change of clothes with her to work two days ago. Not that the temperatures in that studio had been cause for perspiration, or that Rook had done anything to make her feel as unclean as she did, but the thought of spending even another minute in the clothes she had worn for two days suddenly became so repulsive that she shed her coat immediately, ignoring the chill that excitedly claimed this newly unprotected territory as its own.

Quickly opening her locker, she stripped herself of her brown shirt and tank top, leaving her bra on only because she did not feel like being that exposed in a relatively public place, praying that nobody chose that moment to come looking for her. She found a tee shirt in her locker, one she generally used to blow off some steam in the precinct gym, and put it on. Watching the door closely, she shed her black pants, exchanging them for a pair of men's shorts that, while slightly unbecoming, were much more comfortable than the denim underwear some females called shorts.

She took a deep breath, but it was immediately dispersed as another shiver wracked her body. She fled back to her coat, throwing it over herself and huddling in the corner with her back to the wall. Of course, she could have just closed the window, but that would have been just too dang logical. Logic? What was this logic they spoke of? Olivia had never heard of it, and she certainly didn't have any, because if she did, she would have realized that Rook just wasn't the type of person to directly harm someone. And she said directly because she firmly believed he had driven Dr. Slifken to suicide and made that manager commit sexual abuse.

Shuddering through a yawn once again, she finally decided that, if she wasn't going to shut the window, she could at least burrow under the crib's blankets and try to get some much-needed sleep.

Footsteps could be heard on the staircase the moment she resolved to actually sleep. She watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Elliot appeared in her line of sight, armed to the teeth with vending machine food and water bottles. Deciding that she didn't particularly want to speak to the man who had just saved her from hostage life, she rolled over with a groan and tried to pretend she was asleep.

He wasn't buying it.

"C'mon, Liv, you're gonna fall over if you don't eat something," he said, sitting down.

Olivia twisted her neck halfway to look at him. "I can't fall over if I'm already lying down," she mumbled tiredly. "And I'm not hungry."

Her traitorous stomach growled, and he snickered behind her. "Uh huh. Sure you're not."

She groaned again. "Can you not let me sleep in peace?" she demanded, the fatigue in her voice ruining the effect.

He shook his head. "Not until you eat something."

"If I eat all that sugary junk, I'll be too wired to go to sleep." Relenting even as she protested, Olivia hoisted herself up on an elbow and took the Milky Way candy bar he offered her. She peeled off part of the wrapper and bit into it, the caramel and chocolate mingling deliciously in her mouth.

Elliot eyed her, munching on his own treat. "So what happened with Rook?" he asked finally, the question Olivia knew he had been dying to ask since finding her.

She shrugged noncommittally, eyes fixed on her chocolate. "You were in the interview room with me," she said. "You heard."

"Yeah, I heard what you told the captain, but that's not all that happened." He watched her for a reaction, but she did not give him one. "You didn't say anything about the electrodes I picked off your neck."

"You didn't mention whatever they were for," she retorted. "What was there to say?" Frustrated, she took a large bite of Milky Way and chewed rebelliously.

He seemed to be trying to gauge her reaction before he said anything. "You could have explained what the pre-recorded screaming was about," he commented.

She froze. "What did he use it for?" she demanded.

"I'm not telling until you explain the screaming itself."

"I want to know what he used it for!"

And so they had reached an impasse.

**Because this idea will probably depart very soon, and because I'm tired, expect an update soon. Review for me, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And chapter two, the final chapter! See? I told you it'd be quick.**

**Disclaimer: Fluff is necessary. The rights to SVU in order to write fluff are not. Therefore, Dick Wolf owns SVU.**

"Liv, please? Just tell me!" Elliot had been reduced to something remarkably similar to begging, and Olivia wasn't sure if she was entertained or worried. Maybe the poor man should ease off the chocolate. It made him do crazy things.

"Why are you so desperate to know?" she finally demanded, frustration taking its toll on her temper.

Elliot rolled his eyes as though it were obvious. "Because you were screaming like you were in pain, and I have to know he didn't hurt you!"

Of all the obvious answers, Olivia had not been expecting that one. What had she been saying about that nonexistent logic of hers? Right. That it was nonexistent. Now that he'd said it, though, he had ignited her innate urge to comfort him. Oh, he was good. She would have to tell him now. Curse him.

"After he made me dump my gun and phone, he took me to his car and told me to get in," she said monotonously. The Milky Way was clenched in her fist. "He held the thing he called a detonator in his hand until we got to the studio. Then he took me into the recording box. He shut the door and made me sit down. He said the box was wired with something-thousand volts, and that he would shock me if I did anything other than what he said, and then he would detonate the bomb in Grand Central. He put the electrodes on my neck."

She looked at him, gauging his reaction, but so far he was listening in silence. He had clenched his hands on his knees when she told him about being threatened, but other than that he was calmer than she could have hoped for.

"Then he, uh…" She swallowed. "He made me promise to do everything he said. I-I wouldn't have, I swear, but he was waving that detonator – or, well I guess it was a garage door opener – around and I didn't think I had a choice. I should have fought, El. I should have realized that…"

Elliot held up a hand. "Shh, Liv. You did everything right. You couldn't have known." The words washed over her, but the warm water did nothing to melt the icy guilt in her heart. Yes, she _could _have known, but she had believed what he said was true, and then she'd made Elliot rescue her because she was too scared to do it herself. She didn't press the issue, though, knowing the battle was a lost cause.

Instead, she continued. "He held up a… recording device. He reminded me of the bomb and said he wanted me to… to scream." She told him how she had refused, but that he had waved that stupid detonator once again and ordered her to scream like he was shocking her with the box of electricity. Fearing for the safety of hundreds of people, she had complied. "At one point, he put his hand over my mouth, like he wanted it to seem like I was passing out or something," she said. Elliot remembered that horrific second scream with a shudder. "Then he strapped me to that chair and left. He'd turned out the lights, so I couldn't see anything, but I heard him at one point. He said I had to make sure you did everything he said, too." She curled into herself, the guilt assaulting her now. "He said the lives of everyone in Grand Central depended on it."

She turned her eyes to him at last, awash with shame and humiliation, silently begging him to tell her how much damage her coerced screams had caused. What had they been used for?

It was Elliot's turn to talk; Elliot's turn not to want to.

He told her how Rook had convinced him they would all be blown to bits if he didn't obey him. He said he had seen her. "You, uh…" he swallowed. "You scared me, Liv. With what you said." When he told her about Rook's Milgram experiment, her grip tightened around the Milky Way like she was strangling it. "He said the same thing about the electricity," Elliot told her, swimming in his own guilt now. "He said either I delivered the volts or he did. He… well, I guess he was just playing your screams, but… It sounded like you were dying, Liv! I couldn't see you; what was I supposed to think?"

Did he realize that, by justifying his own missteps, he had shoved all the blame back to her? Olivia repeated again and again that she was sorry, that she honestly hadn't seen any other option. Elliot said he understood, that he was sorry for making her think she had to apologize, and then they lapsed into silence.

Finally, Elliot said, "I chose you over the job again, you know." Olivia looked at him, uncomprehending. He continued, "He tried to make me push the button, the one that… It was supposed to shock you, but I guess it was the recorder, but… I wouldn't do it. I-I couldn't." It seemed so important that she understand, not only that he had never tried to hurt her, but also why. "Liv, I couldn't hurt you. I… There's no way that I could ever not… choose you over the job. It's not the way my…" He swallowed, took a breath, and restarted. "It's not the way my heart works," he said. "I can't lose you."

For a very long moment, Olivia just stared at him. Her heart had just exploded with excitement, but it was taking her mind a lot longer to wrap around the concept. She searched his eyes, begging for something that would make his words more understandable, something she could fit into the idea she'd always had about his feelings for her, but she found nothing of the sort. Instead, she saw a deep, strong terror in his beautiful blue eyes. _Don't leave me,_ they pleaded. _Don't leave me. Not again._

She took a very deep breath. She held it in her lungs, and she made a very important decision. She put her hand on his, with all deliberateness in the world, and said quite clearly, "You won't." He blinked, and she saw confusion. Apparently she had not been clear enough. "I'm not going anywhere anymore, El," she promised him. "I'm staying right here."

Watching the smile grow on his face was like seeing dawn break over the cityscape horizon for the first time. Dawn would have been welcome, too, because it brought the warm sun. Another cold breeze came in from the window and wrapped its way around the pair of them. Elliot, in his coat, was unfazed, but the gust froze Olivia's lower legs, and she practically spasmed with cold.

Watching her shiver was too excruciating. Elliot got up, slammed the crib window shut – clearly his logic was still intact – and went over to his locker. Twirling in the combination, he pulled out a spare shirt and a sweater. He handed them both to Olivia.

"Here," he said. "I don't know how you're not frozen yet."

Uncomfortable but too cold to worry about it, Olivia removed her jacket to slide her arms into the shirt and pull the sweater over her head. She replaced the jacket, feeling much warmer, though that may have had something to do with the intoxicating fragrance emitting from the additional clothes.

Elliot's next order of business, besides totally throwing her off balance by situating himself obscenely close to her, appeared to be loosening her death grip on her candy bar. Using both hands, he pried her fingers away from the chocolate and took it from her. She protested quietly, missing both the stress bar and the sugar.

Chuckling, he moved the candy to her mouth. Never taking her eyes off him, Olivia leaned forward and encircled the Milky Way with her open mouth. Her teeth sliced through the unresisting chocolate and caramel and used mostly her tongue to smash the piece into bits fit for swallowing. She did not allow herself to wonder why she felt all warm and tingly inside at the thought of her partner feeding her chocolate.

But then he fed her another bite, and another, and another. In that way, she finished the entire candy bar. Instead of hitting the instant sugar rush, though, she bypassed it into the burnout that followed. Yawning, she let her eyes flutter shut. Her head drooped sideways, right onto Elliot's shoulder, but she was already halfway asleep and far too tired to care. Especially when his arm wrapped around her, pulling her closer.

She sighed softly, contentedly, already drifting off to dreamland. Elliot sat there with her, taking comfort in the fact that she truly was here, in his arms, staring out the closed window at the twinkling stars in the nighttime sky.

**Finis.**

**How'd you like it? Review for me, please!**


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